Expansion joint apparatus



p 1951 s. s. MONEAIIRY ET AL 2,568,923

EXPANSION JOINT APPARATUS Filed March 23, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F I G. 2.

WITNESSES: I INVENTORS V W N \SIZFLUIZ'A R a n figwcw BY MB I ATTORNEY P 1951 s. s. MCNEARY ET'AL 2,568,923

EXPANSION JOINT APPARATUS Filed March 23, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 K WI F I G. 4. WITNESSES: I g wRJ 5 Samun. EARY UW \lBWYLLIRM R. BERRY ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 25, 1951 EXPANSION J OINT APPARATUS Samuel S. McNeary, Ardmore, Pa., and William R. Berry, Camden, N. J assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania 7 1 Application March 23, 1948, Serial No. 16,404

1 Claim.

The invention relates to an expansion jointfor connecting adjacent ends of pipes or vessels subjected to pressure, and it has for an object to provide apparatus of this character providing for relative axial displacement of the adjacent pipe ends as well as relative lateral movement and angular displacement of the pipes while at the same time operating to balance or neutralize pressure forces acting on the pipe ends, which forces are unbalanced and must be carried by anchorages provided in the piping system because of the absence of stress-bearing connecting structure occasioned by the introduction of a joint providing for the aforesaid relative axial, lateral and angular movements.

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the character aforesaid operable so as to allow for thermal expansion of the connecting piping between anchored pressure vessels and/or relative movement of the vessels, while imposing zero resultant pressure load, or a load of a desired value in either direction, on the latter.

The foregoing and other objects are effected by the invention as will be apparent from the following description andclaim taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming apart in Fig. 2 and viewed in the direction of the arrows applied to the section line III-III; and

Fig. 4 is a sectioned oblique projection view of a modified form of the invention.

In Fig. 1, the pipe a joins anchored vessels 1; and arranged at right angles and the pipe includes pipe sections d and e joined by the flexible expansion joint I. If the internal pressure of the pipe and Vessels differs from the external pressure, there results an unbalanced pressure load on the vessels and consequently a reaction at their anchorages. If p is the difference between the internal and external pressures and, as shown in Fig. 1, r is the radius of the effective area of the joint, the vessel 0 experiences a vertical force P equal to 11 p and the vessel b experiences the same vertical force and a moment equal to P 5 {'5 will counterbalance-this"loading, thereby eliminating the tendency to displace the vessels and to impose load upon their anchorages. Such is the case when a vessel is a turbine and expansion joints areused in the inlet, exhaust or extraction piping. Apparatus capable-of achieving this purpose will now be described.

In Figs. 2 and 3,'the pipe members Ill and H are connected by the expansion joint unit, at [2.

The expansion joint unit includes outer/expansion joints l4 and [5 connecting thepipe members Ill and H to intermediate annular members It and lLwhich'are connected by the intermediate or middle expansion joint1'l8. 'The pipe member I0 is connected to the intermediate member I! by a pair of diametrically-opposed'tie rods l9. Likewiseythepipe member'll is-connected to intermediate member [6 by a pair of diametrically-'opposed-tie rods 20, theplane of the tie rods being at right angles-to'that' of a the tie rods l9.

7 In Figs. 2 and 3, the expansion joints, l5

and I8 are provided by bellows or accordion elements; I With the pipe sections-10 and I I connected, re-

spectively, to remote ends of the intermediate bellows element l8 by the tie rods l9 and 20, it will be apparent that, to the extent that the effective pressure area of the intermediate bellows element is larger than that of either outer bellows element, to that extent is the unbalanced expansion joint pressure force acting on the pipe members It) and I l, and the vessels to which they are connected, opposed or balanced. If the efiective area of the intermediate bellows element is twice that of one of the outer bellows elements,

quired to eliminate the reactions which would otherwise be set up in the anchorage of the vessel to which pipe member In is connected. In the same manner, the force due to pressure difference p acting on intermediate element l6 and transmitted through tie rods 20 produces a longitudinal stress in pipe member I I, such as is required to eliminate the reactions which would otherwise be set up in the anchorage of the vessel to which pipe member H is connected.

posite directions for the case where the external If the expansion joint unit is compressed, then the outer joints close and the central one opens, each by the same amount; equal to the compression of the total unit. On the other hand, if the unit is extended, then the outer joints open and the central one closes each by the same amount equal to the extension of the total unit. Therefore, the expansion; joint unit is-"capable of accommodating relative :"axial fmovement of the pipe members. Furthermore, as the accordion or bellows elements provide flexibility for lateral and angular displacements, andas the tie rods may be flexed laterally and angularly, it'wfll'be apparent that the pipe members III-:and II may undergo lateral and angulara'displacementsrelative to one another.

In Fig. 4, there is shown an expansion join't unit involving the same operating .principlesas already described, incorporatin internal tie links and a difierent type of flexible element. Accor'dingly, the pipes I Ila andiI Ia are connected by expansion joints E Ha and-15a to *intermediatepipe z-sections Hia and I-Ia rjOiXlOd' by the intermediate cexpansion joint I M.

5Ea-ch of the expansion joints Ma, I-5a= and IBa is acomprise'd zby :opposed radially extending, a.

:spacedannular diaphragm plates joined at their touteriperipheries. For :example, I the [expansion joint 1 Ha Tincludes -:a pair of=.radia1ly-extending adiaphragmzzplatesr'n joined byra peripheral ring -23 rand :ea'chmf' theother: expansion -=joints is Y of similar construction except-that the intermediate expansionjoint hasn'adial diaphragm plates of .Jarger "radius -.toz.provide an effective pressure -area' o'f-thez intermediate joint which is twice that cof:.either outer-expansion joint.

As I the 2 pipe Ila I is connected w to the inter-mecdiate pipe Esection r IIa by :internal tie links I Illa sand as 1 the. pipe "II ads-connected by internal tie a-linksdlaito the intermediate .pipe section- I6a, it

5 pansion joint whose effective pressure area is twice that of either outer expansion joint, it will *be' apparent that the inventionris applicable in .situations i-wherethe ratio is difierent, providing anchorage conditions are suitable. Also, while 1 the outer expansion joints are shown each with the same effective pressure area, one might be larger than the other. In general, the invention involves balancingor practical neutralization of :pressure.-forces'imposed upon the pipe sections l and the attached vessels.

While the invention has been shown in several I .forms, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various .other changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof.

What is claimed is:

In an expansion joint, first and second pipe .members, first and second intermediate annular vmembers, outer expansion joints connectingthe 5 first and second pipe members to the first and :second intermediate members, respectively, a -.middleexpansion joint connecting the intermediatemembers, a first pair of diametrically-opposed tie rods connecting the first pipe member and the second intermediate member, and a secthe second and the efiective-pressure area of the middle expansion joint being larger than that of either outer joint.

:SAMUEL S. MCNEARY. WILLIAM R. BERRY.

willibezapparent athatflasrbefore, with thex-sameqo operates to accommodate relativeaxialdisplacementsiofthexcoupled pipes' w-ithout this capability i'introducing :pressure react-ions rat the anchorages. This construction is also capable -of accommodating relative :lateral 'and angular REFERENCES CITED The'followingreferences are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,314,776 Dittuset'al Mar. 23, 1943 2,348,833 Miller :May 16, 1944 

